Wave of Calamity: 9

Lightning rips across the skies, as the purple clouds swirl and rear their ugly heads over the port town. By now, the Hunters Guild has gotten pretty good at estimating the targetted area, based on the scope of the clouds and some calculations with the help of various members of the Tower of Mages. While the Holy Empire Westelande and the Ninetails Dominion do not often see eye to eye on various matters, it appears that the invasions have become a matter of Hunters Guild interest, who have been awarding them enough to do this work.

The clock has been ticking in the church, and each Alliance practically has someone on their individual Alliance Channels indicating a countdown as they get close to the end. The Landers themselves have come out in full force this time. The last time, during the undead matter, they'd deployed a great deal of cavalry and Peko riders. But today, there is a far greater force here.

At their head today, is the Flame Lord Eugene himself, riding his armored and beefy black Peko. He has been quiet after a few speeches amongs the army. There's various siege weaponry that have been prepared as well. Some of it looks rather old, as if it came from a former war. But the Port Town is remarkably well protected. And there are still some convoys coming in with new siege weaponry that are being set up along the road.

The sand dunes, normally rife with low level monsters, seems almost empty. As if the monsters themselves have realized to stay away. There are some beetles that still roam the area, but many of the Adventurers and Landers barely heed them any mind at this point.

Then, the timer...

00:00:02
00:00:01
00:00:00

There's a sudden detonation of sand, as something seems to fall from above, and sinks a bit into the sand. It's a large and rotunde looking being. Singular in nature, taking some time to not fall over within the sands. Shifting, turning, the many spikes on its body dangle and move lazily as it turns.

As the dust begins to settle though, the area around it seems almost... beautiful. Green flowers appear to cover the desert sands. It's as if an entire patch of desert has been terraformed. Yet...

The Pekos, every Peko in the area suddenly begins to act up. Even the ones as well trained as the one that the Flame Lord himself rides begins to try and back off!

"DISMOUNT!" The head of the very Empire itself commands, knowing well enough to not rely on beasts. "Stay at a distance everyone! Ready! Aim! Fire!"

    Merek looks to the skies while he waits for the timer. He has stubble, while it looks like he seems tired. He just draws a smoke to his lips to take it in, then he sighs while he watches. There's a strap along his waist and an alchemist pack. He watches while the thing begins to fall from the sky, then he begins to speed forward while he takes a moment to draw a scythe which he keeps with him.
    It looks like he's working with that new equipment, changing between weapons, using it to begin a swipe into the enemies. Then he decides to play it smart, letting the weapon fling what looks like a fireball across the entire field. "Fire support, allies!"

Miho had her bow on her back her katana on her hip, if her Grandfather and the rest at the family forge could see this. Not that the family had ever been Samraur but they had connected as smiths and the like. Such thoughts dance about for a while. The Empire's troops were damn good. Even if she was haunted by their coming of age ritual she had been more than willing to come to aid the Salamanders of the Empire.

The feeling of being teleported comes once more and she finds herself standing in a very green area.

"Okay I was not expecting this...look alive!"

Miho will make ready drawing her bow and getting ready to have her own shots join the Imperial Archers own.

Once again, Mikage has found herself in the lands of the Holy Empire, ready to face down another Wave of Calamity. At least, this time, they were able to stay close to the port city, meaning that travel was relatively easy to get here. With that benefit, is also the downside of just how close danger is at hand to the people of the port. Her steadfast friends and traveling companions were likely nearby, working as support rather than part of the main fighting force, and that meant there was real danger to people she cares about.

As the creature falls from the skies, it kicks up enough sand that Miki raises her arm, shielding her face from it. Rama sneezes at her side, rubbing at his face with his paws. "Steady." She warns the cat, even as the surrounding Pekos begin to act out. Whatever the monster is, it clearly has the birds rattled.

"How're you doing, buddy?" The Ranger asks, and Rama... well... the normally brave cat looks visibly shaken. His ears are tucked back, his tail down, and the cat seems frozen in place. "Not good." Raising her voice a little, Miki calls out, "This thing has a negative effect on animals. Beastmasters and animal trainers, fall back!" Though she can't really give the command, hopefully the warning will carry.

"Just stay behind me." She offers her companion, then loads an arrow into her bow, channeling force behind what would otherwise be a basic arrow shot. It allows her to stay at range, at least until they know what they are dealing with.

As soon as the countdown timer appearing was reported Shiruba had gotten together as many of the Silver Sword adventures that could reach the location in Westeland in time to gather there and prepare their defensive. While they didn't know what the enemy would be, they could still prepare. Ready their positions, ready their gear, ready themselves. Become familiar with the land the preliminary storms had appeared over, so they could be ready to deal with the environment when the time comes

The times of waiting, of reactionary defenses, were over. The New World Alliance was ready to make good on their promise to take a more direct and proactive approach to dealing with the Waves of Calamity.

It shows. As soon as something seems to come hurtling out of the dark skies above to hit the dunes below, the Silver Swords are into motion. By the time the Flame Lord rides up, many of the Adventurers are forming a perimeter, as much to keep wayward civilian Landers out of the dangerzone as they are setting up position to keep whatever that is in it, in the desert and away from the port town not far away.

Shiruba herself was on the front of the offensive of course. "Now! Move in and contain before it regains it's bearings from the landing!" She herself has her bow drawn, charging Thundersnow Howl enough to send an shot hurtling towards the creature, where it splits midair like a magical multi-warhead to rain multiple freezing bolts down towards the monster!

As the timer ticks down, Kotono watches and waits... OK, so we lied about the second one.

The Spriggan isn't about to stand by idly as the time ticks down. Instead, she's taking this time to stretch out and warm up for the upcoming battle. Some of the stretches she does, like doing a handstand and then lowering her legs into a backbend (like a scorpion's tail) may seem extreme to those around her, but this girl is an acrobat, don't forget.

Once she's finished stretching and warming up, she looks to Miyako (who else?) and says, "All right, I'm ready when you are!" She twirls her knives around a little. "Here we go!"

The Spriggan rushes in fast, attmepting to use a literal flash of silver as her attack as she goes by.

    When you know the exact moment and location an attack is going to come, having the first strike prepared is... not too terribly difficult. It's just a matter of, as someone once said, getting there 'firstest with the mostest'.

    Miyako has had her opening spell prepared and ready for this one, the runes glowing in the air before her as she waited for the enemy to appear. When the tear opens in the sky, she turns her head and nods to her friend. "Good luck, Ko-chan," she offers, before she reaches up to inscribe the final runes and complete her spell. "Come back safe."

    She doesn't bother to shout the incantation as some do, letting the effect speak for itself: Spears of ice raining from the sky around the portal, slamming into the beast and - mostly - shattering against its fur. Not all fail to penetrate, however...

What a horrible day for a curse. Truthfully, any cursed day is probably horrible. If it weren't then the curse would have been a waste of the caster's time. Speaking of wastes of time, Lin is staring at the Timer. Nervously staring at his spellbook, a pen in his free hand, scribbling critical notes in the margins. He glances nervously at the timer. Motivated - to study, to fight - but the ticking clock makes it impossible to focus.

When it strikes zero, Lin's expectation is transformed to relief. Explosions. That sounds like proper knowable Chaos. Not the imaginary kind where the true enemy is yourself. He takes off running toward the chaos, coat streaming behind him as he glances down at his book and starts shouting the words of a spell. His hand sparkles with electricity, ready to unleash as soon as he sees the creature... but his shot misses the mark.

So, some monstrosity seems to have air-dropped in right here. The pekos are freaking, and no one's rushing in to attack. That seems worth noting. So, in RL, Yeowang didn't do ranged combat. She did MMA, and the ring is her familiar environment. But this game, it seems, expects her to have some familiarity with ranged attacks. So, over the past nearly a year, she dutifully trained with the starter bow she had found in her inventory, and she can reasonably bring down small game with it if the range isn't extreme. And now that training is important, because here she is, bow in hand, firing for effect against a giant monster.

She rips off the arrows smoothly, and her quiver is fully stocked, if more for preparedness then expectation of actual use. For exactly times like these, in fact. Sending off arrows as fast as she can draw and nock, the target is huge and hard to miss, and if each individual hit does tiny damage, she hopes that at least the volume of fire can contribute.

Bows. Ranged attacks. Kaydon sighs heavily to himself as he looks at the group all switching to ranged weaponry, "I'd give anything for my M4 about now." He mutters, more to himself than anyone around him.

Sure he's more than capable of using a ranged weapon, at least in theory, but he's never specialized in it. But with everyone acting like this fight has to be done at range, he hesitates to move in.

Not able to provide too much ranged support, he none the less can at least give some assistance, as he pulls one of the blades off of his belt, tosses it up and catches it by the blade itself, and then plants his foot and throws it in an arc towards one of that thing's eyeholes. At least he assumes those are eyeholes. Who knows.

Nine.

Nine floors. Nine waves. Nine threats to the World that did not need to be. Proteus stares up at the clouds from her dune as she stands with the other Adventurers and the soldiers of Westelande. Time ticks down. "Three. Two. One." Proteus counts over the Olympus Chimlink. Moments later... Communications snap closed, and Proteus turns as the sands upheave, the plants growing out. "This creature..." Proteus glares in the direction of the spiky, massive beast. "That can't possibly be the extent of it... We'll find the solution." With a snap of her hand, the burnished brass cube is whipped out of her cloak (and Inventory), and spins in her hands. "First alignment." She states, and the cube spins up, twisting in the air, clattering as pieces of it push inwards, twisting and turning as the box opens up to reveal the mechanical internals, extending outwards as she grips a handle. Curved arms lock into place, the wire snapping down, the bow stringing itself. "Paradox. Let's go."

Proteus leaps into action, skidding down the dunes as she aims with the bow. It's very dramatic as she activates an Ability with a couple flicks of her hand: ( U

Purple light coalesces in the bow, and Proteus unleashes several shots, trying to pierce the creature with the Arcane Shots.

Eliza looks down at her Peko mount with concern as he squawks and flaps his wings frantically, backing away from the monster. "Sunny? What's wrong?!" She tries to calm the bird, but to no avail. The other riders seemed to be having similar issues, so they were ordered to dismount. Eliza reluctantly does the same, letting Sunny head to safety.

Turning back to the giant at hand, Eliza feels some sense of awe. If it weren't in the middle of a desert, she would have thought it was some sort of great forest spirit. Still, despite its looks, it is an enemy, and a threat to those who have gathered here. Eliza decides to do her best to help. She raised her shepherd's crook and chants softly, aiming an ice spell in the beast's direction.

    Rizadoman was simply stunned to be seeing what he was seeing. The strange mood of his causing him to even hesitate to act for the moment as if the obsessed ideas going through his mind made him wonder if perhaps , just for a moment this thing in front of him was some divine being. For now he simply stood there and would likely continue to just stare and watch while his senses battles with moonlit fey logic.

    Wyldfire bangs her fists together, a small burst of flames rushing off from the impact, "I can't believe those bastards. Again! What the hell has Westelande done to deserve this?" A smirk appears on her face, "Well, they're going to regret trying to hit us again!" She bangs her fists together again, the flames even flashier this time around.

    The brawler looking Salamander stands near the front of the defense force, arms crossed as she listens to the timer counting down. As soon as it hits zero and something comes blasting down into the dunes outside the town, Wyldfire stares at it.

    Then stares some more.

    "What the HELL is that thing supposed to be?"

    Whatever it is, the defenders open up on it. With the Flame Lord himself suggesting they stay clear for now, Wyldfire frowns, "Damnit... No matter. I'm sure something more is bound to happen." Besides, there's word that the Otherworlders might be showing up as well. So for now, Wyldfire holds her ground at the front, keeping her eyes open as she watches the attacks rain down.

The creature appears to indeed be having an effect on the animals. Or something near it. There is this instinct deep within these animals that know they cannot... they <must> not approach. That to flee is their only option. When the Pekos rode against the Dragon Emperor itself, they were able to ride into battle. But here, today, there is an instinct at hand that reaches these animals, that fails to reach the warriors - Adventurers and Landers alike.

Beastmasters, upon recommendation, release their beasts back into the port, as they prepare for alternate methods of assault. The Holy Empire Westelande, so reliant on its Peko cavalry, is quickly having to adjust. But the various siege weapons are ready just the same. Massive catapults flinging flame enchanted rocks launch, rising into the air along with the plentiful fireballs - amongst which Merek's blast leads the pack!

The blast detonates upon the center of the battlefield ahead of them. Detonating across the being known by Inspect as an Orb Piercer. A Red level threat, according to peoples' readout. If it were Black Level, like the Dragon Emperor, no doubt those 'wires of energy' would be attached to it still. Yet, to think that this wave is but a singular being? Even the Dragon Empire had come with a cavalcade of Wyverns.

Arrows loosen into the air not moments later, intermixed with the detonating rocks across the field. There's the occassional white ripple of something being destroyed in the area, but the debris and detonations quickly start obfuscating the battlefield, making it hard for Miho, Yeowang and Mikage to make their shot. But they feel like they got it in!

Then, Shiruba's shot blasts against the center of its body, and the fog blasts away. The ground beneath the being is sandy once more, and it has finally finished turning around. Its many spines are turned downwards, shielding itself. There's a few arrows sticking out, awkwardly lodged between its spines. It's taken some damage, but it is _remarkably_ not a lot, compared to the amount of firepower they just used! Staring at them now is a strange red 'helmet'. Two large holes that appear to be eyes, and a maw - both of them drooling a sickening liquid for some reason. As if it were crying from all of its orifices.

Kotono's daggers come in, and they can all see as it moves its spines to protect itself. There is this sense of utter ancient instinct there. Defending itself as if it were wielding thousands of swords in order to defend itself, able to use them all equally efficiently. Miyako's attack combos with Eliza's, creating a larger flood of ice which shatters against its many thorns, causing the frost to form around a few of them, slowing their ability to move. Lin's blast flashes towards it, but instead of striking the beast, it strikes... something else that just fluttered up. It looks like a leaf fluttered about, shattering into the typical light of something losing its integrity or health.

Kaydon's blade manages to reach it almost, before one of the spinies moves... /and cuts/ through his sword. Shattering the weapon as if it was barely to its notice. The sword itself shatters into light as its integrity drops - one of the shards stabbing into its body and doing some damage before it too disappears. Proteus tries to get in between the moves of its spines, but the arcane arrow is shattered, cut in a similar way to the sword, as the Orb Piercer rears one leg and begins to lumber forward.

This gives people just a moment to look up and see what is causing alarm with some of the Landers. Cries that rise in greater numbers as it looks like all that grass that had formed around the Orb Piercer had risen into the skies, like some fata morgana. But the grass appears to have wings which is starting to descend upon the Port! Large insects, each about the size of an annoying small yappy dog, trying to descend with their simple looking insectoid legs. Except, the moment they land on a nearby Peko, they just start /swarming/ it. Biting into it and starting to disappear into its body. And not seconds later, the Peko detonates, and /more/ of those insects appear than originally were there! Multiplying by having killed the Peko!?

Many of them are approaching the Adventurers.

But by the time they turn their heads towards the Orb Piercer, it is... /creepily/ closer. That is to say, it just managed to get across half the distance between their siege weapons and themselves, and it is still bustling towards them. Blasts and arrows rain down upon it, clattering against its spines, whittling away at its health as it finally gets in range and rears over Miho!

No doubt, Miho would wield her shield! It brings its spines forward! The powerful shield...

Shatters. The spines go through as if the shield was nothing but mere /paper/. Stabbing into Miho's body. An immediate sense of paralysis overcoming her body, and red light beings to leak from her body as the paralysis is quickly stacked with a severe exsanguination debuff that would need immediate medical attention. The thing is... /fast/. Unreasonably fast for something its size! And it is opening its orb-like maw, unhinging it, intent on devouring Miho right where she is as her body falls amidst paralysis!

    Merek looks to the creature even as it zooms past to sweep into Miho, the man takes a look about the place and begins to decide on his next weapon. He will sheath the scythe while he takes the time to pick up the potion that is with him. Then he swings along next to the creature while he throws that into them with an explosion. He of course will use magic to protect himself away from that thing.

There is a long moment where Mikage simply stands there, watching the bugs descend on the poor Peko. Seeing what was done to the creature has her cursing under her breath, a bead of sweat forming on her brow. "Rama..." She doesn't even look down at her companion, knowing that this is going to be difficult. "Run. Go find Cyrus and Sassaral. Hide."

The feline gives her one uncertain look, and then he is racing off into the nearby town, dodging around insects and trying to avoid being swarmed. "Be safe." Mikage whispers after him, closing her eyes briefly before snapping them open again to focus on the fight at hand.

She keeps her distance from the creature at the heart of the attack, but that means having to dodge between waves of insects, trying to dodge underneath them or swat them away as she gets into position, grabbing another arrow from the quiver at her waist and starting to channel magic through her bow, Dawnbreaker.

Blue energies snap up along the Elemental Machine parts that make up the weapon, revealing the element of her attack even before she fires the arrow skyward. It seems to stop in mid-air, exploding into a number of pinpoints of blue light. Then, the same motes of light start to rain down with freezing damage towards the creature.

This... is eaxctly why Shiruba has been saying to be aware of potential changes to the situation. Though it seems to come not from one of the otherworlders, but from the eruption of flora and fauna around the impact zone as it fornicates bizarre bugs.. that infest other creatures to rapidly multiple themselves. "Oh, that's nightmare fuel right there...", she mutters grimly as a Peko explodes in more of the infestation.

"We need to stop that swarm from reaching the Port and the people!", she shouts as loud as possible over the din of battle, before taking off across the dones in pursuit of the monterous insects.

As she does so she draws on her sorcerous artes, creating an arcane barrier around herself to repel attacks.

Then as she vaults over the land afterwards she 'removes' the shield spell.... By launching it at the buzzkills in an attempt to crush as many of them as possible with it!

Miyako smiles as she sees the multiple attacks strike home against the monster. "We'll show this thing," she mutters, already starting to scribe her next spell. "Be careful, Ko-chan!" she yells, and when she looks up the thing is /so much closer/.

    She spits out a stream of curses as she hurries back from the monster, leaving her half-finished spell behind. She has to start over when she reaches what she considers a safe distance, and rushes through it in order to get it off before the thing comes any closer. The sphere of darkness that she hurls at it ends up falling short, however, leaving a pool of shadows a few yards in front of it that simply covers the ground for a few seconds before dissipating.

"Don't have to tell me!" Kotono replies to Miyako as she zigs and zags out of the way of the incoming attacks. "I'm not holding anything back but I also ain't lowering my guard either!" She spins around a few times to make sure there are no other attacks coming.

Once she's sure the coast is clear, the Spriggan rushes at the bugs with her blades at the ready, chop-chopping like a slasher or something!

Terror floods Lin's senses for a moment. Already half way through casting a defensive spell, he hesitates when the Orb Piercer's true size and ferocity become clear. The defensive spell almost dies on his lips, just barely coming together as a sphere of glittering light around him. Is it wise to cover yourself in an orb against the Orb Piercer? Probably not. But that's a problem for Future Lin to solve. He tries to recover and focus on the now. Attack! The Pooka flips a few quick pages in his spellbook and stares at what he was scribbling in the margins. Time to try something new. A beam of pure magical energy shoots from his hand, splitting into five and rejoining as his fingers waver.

Yeowang is accustomed to evaluating fights quickly, though not generally one as large as this one. Her first concern is Miho, but it looks like players are moving to rescue her, so she will concentrate on the big orb thing. And for better or worse, it's come to us, so there's not much question of staying at range now. She'd have to move back. Instead, she stows her bow and rushes in, standing right at the base of the monster, though remaining wary of it's position and movement, punching and kicking with heavy blows, knocking off a few HP at a time. Maintaining situational awareness means smacking the bugs that get too close, also, evading them with deft moves, though sometimes they leave little enough room to spare.

    The lizardman is no loner in awe, in fact the moment that Rizadoman saw Miho's shield be pierced by the spines and strange mood or no strange mood he was not about to let her be devoured. In fact he even seems to run one of the bugs to get to her, fiercely shubbing the legs out of the way and still going. His eyes were tracking the orb's maw and could almost hear that intense boss fight music in his head pressuring him to move a little faster. The moment Rizadoman he would grab up Miho, throwing her over his shoulders firelizardman style and does his best to carry her away safely out of the monster's path.

Quickly raising a shield of rock to defend herself from the incoming attacks, Eliza looks on in horror as the insect-like creatures consume the Peko. It wasn't Sunny, but it easily could have been- and still could be, if the swarm gets past the group. She grips her crook tightly, then starts swinging. "I won't let you... You're not getting to Sunny!" she cries.

    Wyldfire watches as the Orb Piercer manages to reduce a significant amount of firepower into a much smaller amount of actual damage. She hmphs, "That thing must have some serious defense to it." She flicks a thumb across her chin and nods, "Not bad."

    However, it quickly becomes clear that the large monster is not the only threat here, as apparently the grass it formed has grown wings. Or rather, it wasn't grass to begin with! Wyldfire watches with curiosity as the bug swarms rush the defenders, many going after the pekos still hanging around. Her eyes then widen at the sight of the bugs chewing their way inside and exploding the loyal mounts...

    "Oh hell no..." The poor creatures. Not even given the chance to fight alongside their riders. Wyldfire narrows her eyes, "You screwy sons of a bitch!" She watches as a swarm breaks off to buzz in her direction. Wyldfire bares her teeth at them, "I DON'T THINK SO!"

    "HRRRRAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Wyldfire clenches her fists, crouching as she draws out her power. Flames dance to life across her, before exploding into a flaming aura. The bugs that rush her are incinerated before they can even reach her skin. Wyldfire then leaps forward into the swarm, arm reared back before she swings it, flames around her fist burning bright as she cries out, "HIIIIIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She punches the swarm, a blast of flames light up to engulf it.

    Wyldfire moves on after the first swarm, starting to punch her way through others as she fights to keep them from breaking through the lines and harming more noble pekos.

Proteus was sure another boot was going to drop.

And boy, what a boot it was. The sight of Miho being completely overwhelmed by the murderous piercing strike causes the Imp to grimace even as she plinks uselessly at the outer shell. "Damn! I can't get a good angle... Why am I so bad at this?" She mutters to herself. "Erufu makes it look easy..."

The horde of bugs surging upwards makes it immediately worse. "It's like giant locusts... A plague..." She grimaces. "Those bastards. What are they /thinking/? Well, no, of course they're thinking they want to destroy everything. That's the /point/." But Miho is being pulled up to be consumed. She can't struggle. She can't fight back. Not while she has those debuffs...

Those debuffs... Proteus blinks, and she makes a quick decison. With a flick of her hand, she pulls out an ampoule of a crimson liquid from her Inventory and takes a look at it. "Good, it's still usable." She mutters to herself, and then brings out an arrow. She pushes the ampoule and the arrow together... Those around her might quietly feel something subtly wrong in the World as the two items merge, and Proteus spins the piece of ammunition and sets it into her bow. "Paradox, if you can goddamn shoot straight, now's the time!" She points the weapon through the horde of flying bugs, leaping backwards and hurling herself away as one of those big bugs sweeps in. She leaps over the creature, bouncing off of it and leaping into the air once again as the Imp's cloak flares outwards, Proteus drawing back the arrow. A moment later, Proteus says... "Now!"

As Rizadoman gets to Miho, he'll see the arrow fly in, a hissing noise of the fletching fluttering before a CRACK, the ampoule on the arrow shattering and instead of dealing damage, delivering the contents of the fluid to Miho. "Rizardoman! Good work!" Proteus calls as the muscular lizardman gets the other half of things handled.

Kaydon watches his knife arc through the air only to shatter into bits when the tendril hits it, "HEY!" He yells at the creature, as he reaches to his back and draws his sword, "I worked hard on that knife, you jerkass!" He rushes forward, skipping right past the bugs and towards the big monster at the center of it. This time he's more careful, swatting tendrils away with his blade as he approaches, and then slicing to cut at a group of them. He has no idea if the spikes grow back or not, this is a good way to test.

If they don't, it may be possible to open up a weak spot. And if they do, well at least that's a mechanic they learn about too. This isn't the kind of thing you get a second chance at, after all.

Miho calls back to Kaydon.

"I'd take an Arisaka even anything to get some more range."

She scores a good hit at least she thinks she did but think are not over she goes to block something and the arm-mounted shield shatter like it was a paper wall. She then impaled she cried out something isn't right there's a red light leaking from her body and she's getting stacked with all sorts of paralysis and her energy is bring drained very fast. She creams oh god does Miho scream and to think Adventures feel less pain than a Lander does. She's sinking down to one knee unable to act for now and her HP's taking a heck of a hit here. She's going to end up devoured this is not a memory Miho wants to get no. There's not much she can do before the much larder Lizardman grabs her and carries her away from the monster before she ends up dinner.

Then she ends up with Proteus and thankully she's able to heal her of the infuylence upon her.

"You two we talk later...."

For now she'll turn abotu move to take a deep breath, this little lady does not need a flamethrower.

She is one and she lets lose a massive torrent of flame at the bugs that are beating down on them.

Miho be mad...

Merek's strike just barely reaches the Orb Piercer. Four spines move towards the throw, trying to stab through him as it sidesteps towards him, while trying to protect its prey from being stolen! But the potion shatters on the edge of one of the spines and splashes across it, bursting into fire!

A second detonation follows, in the form of Mikage's light. The freezing attack raining down upon it alongside various Lander Warriors using their flaming attacks! Salamanders have a penchant for flame, and this is causing a constant series of steam detonations against the Orb Piercer's hide! Blast after blast ripping at its spines, but they simply fail to get torn off. Instead, it uses those spinies to try and eradicate some of the light coming from Mikage's bow, intercepting some of them, while others flatten its spines against its body!

Blasts of darkness plaster the area around it, momentarily blinding the Orb Piercer thanks to Miyako's actions. They may have intended to weaken it in a different way, but this gives Rizadoman and Proteus the chance they need to pull Miho out of the way. By the time it fades, Miho is away, and the Orb Piercer is seeking for its prey, splattering liquids from its facial orifices in a spew of anger! Only to be blinded momentarily as Lin's attacks blast into its hide and cut into the stands, spewing dust into the air and weakening its senses for just a moment. But that moment is all that Yeowang needs to get in there! Their fist reaches its mask, slamming into it. The liquid spewing from its face splatters onto his body, and starts an acidic reaction immediatel! But he could feel that 'mask' crack beneath her fist for a moment, before she was forced back!

Kaydon takes her place immediately, her blade piercing into its 'mask', tearing just a bit into that shell, before it spews acid at her as well, which immediately begins to try and erode her weapon and biting at her health if she doesn't get healed quickly!

Luckily, the port is pretty empty on people right now, aside from the military. The Landers were evacuated. And it being a port meant they have an easy access to various boats to get some distance. But there are plenty of lifestock and other beasts of burden still in town that serve as points for the bugs to get into!

There's a sound like a buzzsaw being run through the air, as Shiruba's shield rips through a swath of the creatures. Individually, they are not as much of a threat. But the moment they land on something, it's in immediate danger. Using the shield as a momentary spring-board, Kotono reaches higher in the air, stabbing through a series of the bugs with a whirlwind of dagger-falls!

There's the cries of angered Salamanders amidst the mix of it all. The Adventurers are not the only ones who lament the loss of those defenseless Pekos. Many blazing swords are wielded to keep the insects from getting to their loyal steeds. They Landers luckily are darned good at what they do. And they are the organization to match. There's the occassional sound of a loud pair of flaming whips being used in the background, as Mizufa Trude rages in the background at the insects, protecting her subordinates!

A Salamander Lander jumps onto the back of Eliza's Peko for a moment, sending a ring of fire into the air to protect her from a swarm, before she picks up with her crook and hoods behind the body of two of the insects and crushes them into the ground - Sunny tearing their bodies apart with its massive and powerful beak!

Wyldfire joins in on the charge after the waves of bugs, into the port town to join many of her allies. The bugs are coming down like a blanket of green, infecting surfaces by just landing on them. It's like seeing a sea of bun-buns, but... worse. A blazing uppercut rings up into the skies as Wyldfire leaps forward, creating a corona of flaming light around her as she eradicates more of them.

On the field, the bugs continue to harass everyone. Trying to /swarm/ the Adventurers. To land on them. Bite them. Their bites sharp enough that they could bite through a piece of their arm or leg and tear them off to use even just that in order to reproduce. Fireballs continue to detonate upon their bodies as they try however. Even Miho, who's only just been healed from her terrifying state, sends a gout up.

In the meantime, Kaydon and Yeowang, who got close enough, suddenly are dealing with the Orb Piercer singling them out, rushing past them - using its spikes to try and stab through their bodies and leave them pincushioned to its body to protect itself!

Yeowang cracks the shell of this horrible thing and jumps back just in time as caustic acid splatters where she'd been standing just a moment ago. One thing she would freely admit: this style of gaming is every bit as exciting as real life fighting, she's quite exhiliarated by the frantic fight for her life, with the added bonus of helping others rather than just for their entertainment.

However the spray of acidic yuck necessitates a change in position, and she comes in from a different angle, choosing her attack very carefully and delivering a knife-hand strike where it will do the most good. Her hands glow with holy light as she performs the strike, and while she's not clear on why, the results mean she certainly is not complaining.

"Tsss." Mikage swats at one of the nearby insects as it takes a piece out of her arm, leaving a glowing hole behind. Normally, she had some protection from her armor, but it tends to be lighter in weight than some front line fighters, meaning there are areas that the insects can get through. She snarls at the ones that get too close, trying to ward them away from her face.

It's possible her Were Fang form might offer some protection, but the Ranger almost never transforms, enough so that only a few people have ever seen the monster side of herself. Instead, she tries to focus on what she does best, providing ranged damage.

Lowering her bow, briefly, she channels storm magic through her fingers. Her hands tense, almost as if she were forming those fingers into talons, swiping them through the air. Where hands pass, there are a series of storm blades that form, hovering in the air around her, answering to her call.

With the sweep of her hand, she tosses them forward, sending them swirling towards the monster, attacking from different directions with one blow.

    Merek looks to the creature while it tries to sidestep and strike at him, then he will lift up the shield of magic, while he begins to swing about to exchange his weapon along to a bow which he begins to lift up. The man takes the shot which he aims to that general orb.

    Rizadoman watches Miho jump into action as he turns back and eyes the creature that almost ate his ally as several of the bugs tries to swarm him he simply reaches down and pulls up a large boulder to use as a shield , protecting himself against the pesky bug bites while repositioning with his target in mind. Finally when Rizadoman sees a clear shot, the wanna be dragon takes a deep breath and from his own maw launches a fireball right at the thing. If he was lucky, he would place the fireball directly in the orb's mouth.

    "I hate bugs!" shouts Miyako as she continues backing off, circling around towards Eugene's men as she retreats from the horde of insectoid monsters. With the constant motion it's harder for her to build a spell, especially without her trademark polearm, so she's a bit slow once again in getting it off.

    It doesn't help that she keeps glancing towards Kotono, to check on how her friend is doing in her own battle.

    Soon enough, though, she's ready, and the runes coalesce into a shining silver sphere that rests lightly in her hand. She hefts it a time or two, as if testing its weight, then hurls it into the air to splash down in front of the Lander forces, ice spreading out from the impact point to cover over the insects and weigh them down, drain their body heat, and crush them under its weight.

The chaos of battle is in full swing. Lin stares at the Orb Piercer from a distance. His hair blows in the wind as he focuses on another spell. The rocks rise around him, forming into an eggshell that the insects skitter over. It explodes, tossing them to the side, and the Pooka runs for safer ground. Why are they retreating already? Should he be focusing on the adds? No! Never. Always fight the boss. When he's closer to the back lines, Lin starts to cast again. Another spell from the margins. This time a swirling disco ball of pure magical energy - it geams over his head as he chants the syllables from his book, turning it sideways and grimacing before sending it flying towards the Orb Piercer's head.

Eliza pauses a bit to catch her breath after swatting the bugs with her crook. Thanks to the helpful Salamander, Sunny was saved from the swarm, and was even starting to fight back himself. She smiles at her feathered friend, her fear fading. "You want to help, Sunny? Let's go then," she says. "Show 'em your Peko Peck!" She points her crook and directs the Peko to snap at the foes with his beak.

Shiruba skids to a stop on the sands, watching a moment as Adventurers and Landers alike fight to keep the killer swarm away from friends of both flesh and feathered varieties. She is really glad she doesn't typically ride her own Peko into battles like this.

Winds whip across the sands around her as she brings up another barrier spell, making like a dust devil due to the environment as it picks up some of the grit from the ground around her feet, intent on driving the swarm away from herself. It mostly works, but thanks to sheer numbers on their side for the dozens repelled a few get through and start nipping into her leg.

Shiruba winces as she feels the bites, the red lines of injury starting to appear as they do. Her ears lay back, teeth clenching as she forces herself to focus on what's more important than herself. If any one of those Landers or Pekos succumbs to the infestation it's only going to get worse. If the swarm gets too big they'll never be able to ward it off.

She can worry about herself afterwards.

Shiruba raises her unique weapon, drawing as much elemental energy into it as she dares as she draws back on the bowstring, manifesting an arrow purely out of the aether itself. Takes aim at the largest portion of the swarm, and fires. The howl of stormy winds cries across the desert as the elemental arrow screams through the air and into the swarm, turning into a tempest of churning air pressure around the projectile. Bugs not outright crushed in the cyclonic forces will still hopefully be sucked away from their intended victims by the weaponized storm.

It's right about then that Shiruba finally lets out a yowl of pain as her left leg shatters from the focused injury and she teeters over on the dune next to her. She stares down, watching as the part of her leg that fell off doesn't pixelate, but does become more of bugs. Abiet in not quite so many numbers since they couldn't infest an entire body.

Kotono spins away again, not letting anything get the better of her. She's not being arrogant either, as it seems she's keeping an eye open in both directions as well. After a moment of making sure she's not in direct danger, she goes on the attack again.

"How do you shatter these things?" Kotono wonders aloud as she leaps into the air and attempts to deliver a flying kick to the orb.

Kaydon's blade flashes as he strikes, though when he strikes home with his blade he finds the acid spraying out from the strike point. He quickly backs off a few steps, "What the fuck, this thing is a xenomorph?!" He yells out to nobody specifically. Thankfully his blade is made out of damacus, and it's a bit tougher than a normal steel blade.

Still he has to dodge out of the way of the acid, "Come on then! You goddamn monster! You think I'll let you get to that port?! Over my dead body!" He rushes in again, acid blood or not, this thing has to get taken down. And if it hurts him in the process, so be it.

    Wyldfire runs after the swarms of bugs as they move into the port proper. She has to be a little more careful with where she launches her strikes in her, not wanting to burn down the entire port to take care of the infestation. She throws her punches left and right, further flame blasts lighting up more bugs as she works on reducing their numbers further.

    All the while, the bugs continue throwing themselves at Wyldfire, heedless of the flames engulfing her. But after a while, it actually seems to work, those flames slowly dying down until they're just small wisps on Wyldfire's clothes.

    The brawler stops in her advance as the bugs start to land on her, chewing into her clothes. She ones that land on her scales seem to have trouble getting through, those on her skin a little more successful as bits of red light start to appear. Though still having trouble getting through her high defense.

    Wyldfire doesn't seem concerned though, as she simply stands there, enduring the pain. As more and more bugs close in on her.

    Suddenly, she laughs, "Fools! You think that's all I've got!?" She reaches out to grab one of the bugs trying to chew through her other arm. She rips it off, squeezing her fist tight with a crunching sound, followed by a small puff of glowing pixels rising from between her fingers, "I'M GOING TO BURN YOU ALL TO A CRISP AND FEED YOU TO THE FISHES! HRRRRRAAAAHHHHH!"

    Wyldfire raises her foot, before slamming it down into the ground. Flames rush up around her once more, though this time forming a vortex that rushes around her. The bugs on her are turned into fried bugs. She was just luring them in! Though unfortunately, they quickly shatter into pixels, making Wyldfire's threat only half accurate.

    Wyldfire leaps into the air, spinng around as she does so, her large tail sweeping out. A wave of flames is unleashed into a large swarm of the bugs, before the Salamander lands once more and returns to flame punching more of them.

Miho is still small and still mad. She has been breathing fire at the bugs the big boss can be left be the bugs are what have her fury focued on them at the moment. She will evad futher harm with quick use of several defence abilities. It ends up she can't get into melee at the moment, so she'll draw her bow and just start raining arrows upon the horde of horrible bugs that should not exist.

"We should find a way to send these things back to their world!!"

  Miho is freed, and gets right back into business. Her spirit certainly is still intact even if her HP is down. That's good. Still, there's the problem of all the bugs attacking people. While Proteus has no intentions of closing with the Orb Piercer, the insect plague continues to be an issue. As they swarm in, Proteus' hand comes up, even as they close in from multiple directions. "Get... /OFF/!" She cries out, as she activates an Ability: ^ S O

A moment later, there's an explosion of swirling air that blasts the bugs back, getting the Imp a little space. She leaps back, her hand coming up to the weapon. "We need to get these things away from the animals..." She mutters. "If they can get out of containment, it's going to be impossible to eliminate them!" She brings down the bow, tracing another series of movements in the air: ) - O

Another arrow appears in the nock of the bow, this one made of light, as Proteus pulls it back. "HAH!" She calls, aiming for a dense cluster of the insects and releasing. The beam blasts outwards, impacting and detonating into a wave of Holy power, searing the targets and hopefully finishing off that batch.

The battle against these viscious beings continues! With Yeowang remaining within melee range against this frighteningly fast being. It moves on its hidden legs with far more speed than anything has any right going on this mullen sand! Piercing spikes try to reach her, but the moment her hand comes down and slices into its red 'mask', another splatter of acid /spews/ from its orifices and drips across her body! Piercing spines follow her movement, before finally one of them catches her hand and rips it off of him by the wrist with zero effort! It dangles on the spine for a moment, before shattering.

It's just about to use this loss of balance on Yeowang's side, when piercing slashes blast into its body from the side. The coursing flow of swirling energy coming from Mikage's water based attack push it away and make those spines just barely miss! Red marks forming across the side of Yeowang's throat. With its spines raised, Merek manages to get a mark in - his arrow finding a spot just beneath its spines, before getting shattered.

The Orb's spines quickly duck down, protecting its head from the blasting fireball of Rizadoman's, while the stone flies and crushes several nearby bugs! That's when the Flame Lord himself steps in, his massive blazing sword coming down! It is brought down on those spines which have broken swords before... and manages to glide /through the spines/ - as if someone turned on no-clip temporarily for just the sword. It doesn't break the spines, but it does tear into its body, taking a large chunk of its health out on the follow through, before the Emperor himself is forced back as the thing tries to turn on him! He doesn't speak, he doesn't let out a warcry. He just silently battles with full focus in this moment, moving Kaydon out of the way by grabbing their shoulder and drawing them away just long enough for Kaydon to find a better moment to get in there. It's just in time to allows Lin's attack to find its target!

The orb blasts against its hide much the same way that Rizadoman's fireball did, tearing at its spines. Yet those spines seem almost indestructible! But that's when Shiruba sacrifices her leg to get that shot in - bugs being torn apart in the wake of her shot! The howling wings batter against the spined creature, the Orb Pierce's spines being forced wide by the attack, until finally they open enough that Lin's attack finds that mask and detonates fully against it. This gets Kotono in there, even for just a moment, kicking its head in and causing a big crack to appear on its mask. Kaydon then gets back in there, and stabs their damascus blade into its cracked mask! But before Kaydon can sink it all the way in, its spines stab down, tearing off her hand that was holding the blade - suffering the same fate as Yeowang!

Out near the port town, icy mist rains down as Miyako's spell takes effect, slowing down the bugs, and making some of them get stuck to the surfaces they've temporarily landed on, allowing people to get in there with melee weapons and cut them down with far more ease! Sunny and Eliza showing them that they can fight together, especially when they are dealing with targets like this. The Peko rampaging through the stuck insects, biting their heads off and using that parrot-like beak to eradicate the bugs, while Eliza uses her special stick to keep them off of her friend!

A plume of red forms above her, similar to the one the Salamander that had ridden her Peko used before. Wyldfire lifting into the air and sending a ring of fire outwards, burning a large swath of airborn insects! Their numbers are steadily dropping, but they are starting to smother various people. Their presence getting targetted towards the Adventurers and Landers rather than the animals, clearly seeing them as threats. But far more worrisome...

A small group of the insects begins to try and flee over the bay, trying to get to open waters! Miho's arrows hit a few of them, but it's not all of them yet! Proteus, clearly having anticipated, fires a holy beam that tears off their wings and causes another group of them to plumet to the ground. But there's still a few left that are managing to get away!

The Orb Weaver has finally slowed down however, listing a bit to the side. Its mask seeming to bleed red light, and its focus is waning a bit. Yet, it bristles. Its spines still refusing to be destroyed as it rampages forward towards its enemies, blazing a straight path towards the melee combattants!

    Merek looks to the swings from the creature while beginning to dodge away, then he steps along into it while he will take a new weapon from that inventory, an axe. The man swings that into the creature while he begins to shift and will take the time to fight.

    RIzadoman watches with horror as the bugs seems to be getting worse and Rizadoman lets out a growl of frustration and exhaustion before he reaches for his source of strength. " Fallen ancestors of mine, I call to your bones to rise. I call to your souls to defend this land. I call to your warrior spirits to rise up once more and FIGHT!" With the spell cast two lizardmen skeletons rise up behind him before the three lizardmen charge the orb to try and take the orb piercer head on.

Yeowang attempts to deliver a strike similar to what she did with her right hand, but something is odd. She looks down, and her left hand is gone, with a splatter of ooze around it, still slowly dissolving the stump of her left forearm! Seems she hadn't dodged as much of it as she thought she had! The pain dampeners confuse her sometimes; she's -used- to fighting in RL, both in the ring and outside, and she knows what injuries feel like, even bad ones. But with the pain dampeners, she's not always aware just how bad it is!

Well, her fist is gone, and half her forearm, but she's got two feet, and they can be put to good use. Trying to stay out of the dissolving splatter is not easy, and she does her best to stay out of the caustic gunk as she delivers a particularly thundrous impact with her boot, spinning around and dinging it quite hard with the thick leather footwear, pulling back before the slime eats away at the boot entirely. This is going to be a hefty repair bill, too, it looks like.

There's no stopping an acrobatic Spriggan it seems. Zig-zag-zog-whatever!

Once the girl stops moving, she turns her focus on the bugs. "Time to exterminate you!" She yells as she goes after them with her blades at the ready. "I'd like to stomp you, but I'll let my blades do that work!"

With each strike, things are getting more and more dangerous. Kaydon jams his blade into the creature, stabbing it into the crack in the mask, only to feel the sudden stab of pain as his hand is removed rather violently.

He bites his lip, holding back from yelling out despite the stabbing pain and the status effect. He reaches up and instead grabs his blade with his left hand, pulling it back out and then dropping back a few steps. He's not deterred, however. They're almost done, he knows it. So he charges forward, wielding his blade in his off hand, leaping up to try a downward strike, looking to try to split the mask with the Damascus Blade and hopefully reveal the face behind it.

He'll have a lot of work to do in order to patch things up when they're done, but he's not going to back down.

With a growl Shiruba draws more of that storm energy to herself, the winds around herself getting stronger to help keep most of the swarm at bay. Unfortunately the same 'calm of the storm' that keeps her safe in the middle of the vortex also allows the bugs that spawned near her from her leg to remain within the same clear zone. Giving them a chance to go for her other leg... but they don't. They instead swarm towards something more akin to animal-like, clustering into her tail of all places. "Ew ew ew! That's worse than fleas!" Shiruba snarls as she plants a hand to the ground and draws some earth from beneath the sands to lift herself up and brace against. As it's not as dense as her leg her tail is already losing it's fluffiness and falling apart, which is going to spawn even more bugs.

"That's it. You've messed with the wrong wolf." Her voice has gone into cold, surprisingly calm tones. But there's anger boiling just beneath it. The 'tranquil fury' of the real storm just about to let loose...

Propped against her sandstone pillar Shiruba grips Thundersnow Howl and holds it high over her head, drawing more of that weather power back to herself. In the form of a lightning bolt crackling down from the sky, striking the bow to charge it, and sending off an electrical pulse around Shiruba to zap the bugs within her storm field just as they're starting to respawn from her devowed tail.

Shiruba leans against the sandstorm to grip the bowstring with her other hand and pull back, drawing that collected elemental energy into a projectile, and firing it back into the air. Arcing over the center of the swarm.

"Lord. Of. Vermillion!"

Thunder ROARS across the dark skies as lightning of brilliant red rips down from it in a series of blasts that crash upon the infestation, sending electrical surges pulsing outward with every strike!

Well Miho is having a bad day a very bad day her defences are overhwelmed at this point she's hru badly very badly seh end up losing her tail causing her to crty out in pain. Worse she's had a tail for almost a year now and has no idea how to handle herself without one. Okay she does but she's very rusty and her movment slow down he fury though is even larger now as she focuse herself at the bugs. She sees some of them are fleeing nad iwll take off after them as bes she can and she once more takes a deep breath, deeper than the last one and lets out as massive plume of fire at the fleeing bugs trying to keep them from escaping.

More of the insects seem to swarm around Mikage, making it harder and harder for her to focus on the battle at hand. It is only one small relief that her animal companion is likely out of harm's way. The fact that her health hasn't sunk from him being attacked tells her that much, at least. However, it does mean that she remains out in the open, vulnerable to whatever comes her way.

In that moment, she has to make a choice, seeing the swarm heading away from the battle with the likelihood of escaping to cause further chaos into the world. "No fucking way." She shifts focus, aiming towards the swarm, summoning up a well of her mana as she loads yet another arrow, this one glowing white at the tip.

When she fires, it is into the largest mass of the insects, waiting until the last moment to detonate it, causing an explosion of light energy in their midsts.

    Again Miyako is distracted by watching Kotono, admiring the spriggan girl's flexibility and agressiveness, grinning in approval. "Get 'em, Ko-chan!" she yells, "Flatten it!"

    Cheered by her friend's continued success, she turns back to the big monster and starts setting up a new spell. "We need to figure out some way of getting through that damn rift," she mutters as she scribes the final rune. She swipes her hand across the runes, smearing them into a shadowy blur that washes over the terrain towards the monster. "Clear the road!" she shouts, "DARK WAVE!"

The bugs are everywhere! Proteus keeps trying to blast down the insects, attempting to focus on the group that's trying to escape, but it's pretty hard when one is constantly being savaged. "Gggh! I need some room to work with...!" She mutters. Wyldfire calls for a group-up, and she glances to one side, her sharpened teeth gritting together as another bug fives towards her. "I don't have time for this...! I didn't want to have to use this, but..." Her hand flicks through the air, sketching once more: + ^ S *

A moment later, Proteus vanishes in a blast of thunder, hurling herself through the air as she reappears some short distance away, blasting the bugs back again. And then she vanishes again, the process repeating as a KRAK-THOOM repeats over and over, a series of thunderous jolts occurring as she blurs across the battlefield, and appears atop a building overlooking the central square, just like Wyldfire called for... And she falls to one knee. "Gggh... hhghh..." She breathes, hissing as falls to one knee from exertion. "I hate that Ability..." She mutters... And looks up at the bugs attempting to escape. "... No!" She grimaces, forcing herself to the edge as she brings up the bow, pointing it into the distance. She doesn't have the resources or time for anything big. All she can do is... + <

The classic. The arrow flares crimson, and Proteus utters a quiet phrase as she looses the munition in a sailing arc towards the escaping insects: "Vas Flam." A moment later, the projectile explodes into a simple, yet effective blast of fire, trying to scorch and kill the escaping things.

    Wyldfire punches, kicks and tail swishes her way through several swarms of the bugs. And yet it just seems like more and more of them rush in to replace them. The increase in numbers are beginning to overwhelm the Flame Shield she had put up, the flames dying off as the bugs throw themselves at it, sacrificing large numbers so the ones behind can get through.

    And get through they do! Once more, the bugs begin to land on Wyldfire, starting to chew into her once more. The Salamander winces. But amidst the assault, she happens to notice that the bugs appear to be drawn in towards the Landers and Adventurers primarily. She starts shouting, "HEY! EVERYONE GET TO THE CENTRAL SQUARE!" Getting the idea that if they can group up, it should be easier to defend each other and draw the bugs in to wipe them out.

    Needing to deal with the immediate threat, Wyldfire smashes her fist together with a cry, "HIIIIYAH!" There's a pulse across her body, her scales and skin turning rather shinier. As the bugs try to bite their way into her, their attempts prove useless and produce quiet chink sounds. Kind of like if they were biting down on metal.

    Wyldfire starts running for the town's center, calling out to any Adventurers and Landers she sees along the way, "Come on! We're regrouping in the square!"

    Soon enough, the fiery Salamander runs out into the wider, open area of the square, nodding in approval, "This'll work." The greater space will prove more ideal for what she has planned. As the Landers and Adventurers begin to pile in, Wyldfire brings her hands to face each other. A flame ignites between them. She starts focusing her power, "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

    The air around Wyldfire begins to kick up, quickly growing in strength as the hair ornament tucked into her ponytail begins to glow. All the while, the flames between her hands continue to grow in size and ferosity, "-aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" The winds grow stronger, beginning to form a rushing wall around the square and the people gathering. Not strong enough to keep anyone out, bugs included, it none-the-less is a bit of a struggle to get through.

    Finally, Wyldfire pushes her hands and the swirling flames between them up above her head, "-AAAAYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The gathered flames burst, rushing outwards above her head. They strike the swirling winds, which flame the fires and pull them along, spreading them out and forming a deadly wall of fire to burn any of the bugs that try to make their way through.

This is the back line! It's supposed to be safe! Lin flails, stumbling uselessly and trying to keep his balance. A hastily erected shield spell sparkles in the air about him, flashing dangerously under insect assault. He lifts his spellbook and grits his teeth, determined to see this calamity through. He flips to the back page and starts loudly chanting his final spell. This should be the one. Rainbows dance in the air above him, curling lazily at the start of the spell. They twist tighter and brighter, forming a dazzling ball of pure energy. His concentration is intense - he doesn't even notice how weak his shield is getting. As he winds back to lob his attack at the boss, the shield fails! Bugs are everywhere! With a scream, Lin tosses the ball early! He doesn't focus on guiding the attack, only on removing the insects from his body. His spellbook drops to the ground, grasped in a severed and then quickly devoured hand.

Eliza brings up a shield spell, but this time the swarming bugs break through. She cries out in pain as they swiftly eat through her right arm, which had been raised up in defensive posture to form the shield. Out of what was left, even more of the creatures exploded forth. Eliza scrambled to pick her crook up from the ground with her other hand. She had to do something to help... not just the others, but also to reassure herself that everything would be fine. So, she breathed deeply and began to sing a Hero's Song. Maybe a rousing melody would help lead the party to victory.

Merek's axe fings one of the spines, shattering upon it. The Orb Piercer may be tired, but it's not exhausted enough that it doesn't know how to apply it to such a bladed weapon! The weapon's blade goes flying, shattering into its body, before the integrity disappears and the weapon is made into motes of light!

Still, with those spines lifted, Rizadoman's skeletons get in there. Stabbing their bone blades into its body, right next to its mask! Right before being shattered by the spines and the creature rushes towards the Lizardman, trying to cut him down! But Yeowang blocks its advance! Using her foot, she dropkicks its head, causing it to go down into the sands. Thanks to her, the beast skids, pushing Yeowang away and causing some nearby Landers to tumble out of the way! This is when Kaydon manages to grab hold of his blade once more, piercing it further at the climax of its belly-flop! Acid splattering upon his body, melting away armor. Biting into flesh. Trying to melt his arm off as the blade sinks deeper. It screetches out loud at this point, acid going from a stream to a violent bubbling from its orifices!

A black wave of energy pushes Kaydon forward again as the creature tries to throw him away! Weakening its muscles while ensuring that Kaydon can dig in deeper! DEEPER! Even as strength tries to leave him and more of his body starts to dissolve! Before suddenly, two more hands grab around that Damascus blade. The Holy Empire's Emperor joining Kaydon in trying to cut through. "Together now! ROAR!" He demands, before letting out a fierce roar, blazing flames spewing from his mouth into the creature's facial orifices to halt the acidic tide! Until finally, it sinks in that last bit, and the Orb Piercer's mask breaks... and with that, its entire body shatters!

Then suddenly, the purple clouds thunder and zap a bit, as Shiruba calls forth the Lord of Vermillion. Zapping across with red light, it finds its way to the largest coalitions of bugs, and comes crashing down with fierce enough blows that in some places, the sand itself turns to glass! Eradicating bugs over a large area! Lin's area protected thanks to one of the thunderous quakes, allowing Lin's attack to fly just in the right direction to eradicate bugs over a large area, protecting some of the Pekos that'd gotten loose!

Out in the port, Kotono uses the bugs as springboards, moving from bug to bug, diving at the fleeing ones. She manages to get her daggers in a few of them before she's brought down to the ground! Miho, minus a tail, has a hard time chasing the bugs, so she does the next best thing; she leads multiple Landers in a massive spew of flame that blasts into the air, forming a wall that chases the fleeing bugs, eradicating another swath of them!

Then suddenly, a detonation, as Mikage's arrow sails through the air and consumes some of the Salamanders' flames, enhancing it with its light, before blasting apart in a sphere of light that radiates wide and loud, tearing more wings off of bugs and turning many more of them into crispy critters!

As the light begins to fade, another detonation. Proteus' flame absorbing the light of Mikage's attack and enhancing itself. The gout of flame that follows larger than Proteus might have initially intended, but more than safe enough over the waters of the port harbor! Followed by a wave of flame from Wyldfire, which rages in the wake of Proteus' attack, erasing the last remaining bugs over the port waters. Giving the remaining Landers who've arrived in the center square to fan back out and deal in an organized manner with the last remaining creatures! And with Eliza leading them with her song, she can see their blades glow brighter, and more powerful. Hacking into them. A woman wielding two whips - Mizufa Trude - getting close to Eliza and whipping at the bugs that get too close to her, protecting the songstress amidst her rallying rhythm!

As the clouds overhead begin to fade, and the light begins to return. The Wave having been defeated, and the air beginning to feed less tense. Only cleanup remains now. And a very thorough search for any bugs that might be hiding within houses or under wood!

Shiruba is just far enough from her own tech's strikezone that she only gets a rush of the hot pressurized air speeding away from it, whipping through her long hair. It would her tail too, if she still had it. She sighs, gripping her magic longbow by one of the arms, so she can jab the point of the other end into the sandy ground and use it like a cane and brace herself to stand. "I'm still going to have nightmares after this," she mutters to no one but herself as she starts hobbling back to join the rest of the defenders. "Good job everyone."

The day was won despite the odds. The port was again safe, and safe for Landers and Pekos alike.

It was worth the loss of two limbs.

Even then they still didn't get a leg up on her!

Miho has almost forgot how to run without a tale and this body also excpets to have a tail so there's issues fo her with that. The good new is she rallies a number of Landers in doing the same toasing a large number of bugs. She takes a great deal of pleasure in. With it fadin and the primary threat gone Miho loses her balance and falls flat on her face looking more than little hummilated.

"Oh for a wagon full of ... Raid.."

Yeowang looks around after things have settles, and she calls, "Is anyone still in danger?" Even with one hand, she's alert to any remaining foes, even as she does triage on the scene, looking for injured people she can help, or anyone in need of aid. She doesn't seem immediately concerned by her own injury; she'll take care of it once the people in danger are taken care of.

    Merek nods a bit to the party, while he places that weapon along into the inventory.

Tired but all right, Kotono looks to Miyako. "That was a bit of a challenge, but at least we dealt with them." She holsters her knives before looking around. "Still, can't let our guards down either...."

Were he paying attention to where his disco-themed doomball landed, Lin would probably be proud of the explosion. But he's distracted. In all the time he's been in this world, he's been feeling empowered. Almost a year of holding that spellbook and wielding the impossible. The physical pain of losing a limb is lessened here, but the emotional pain is real. He grabs his now tattered book and retreats.

    Miyako smiles as she watches the remaining monsters crackle and vanish, and relaxes as the portal itself fades out. "We have *got* to handle this better next time," she mutters, as she walks over to find Kotono among the melee fighters.

    "Hey, Ko-chan, glad to see you made it out OK," she says. "What say we go see if the Landers need any help, then get some grub?"

    That was a /horrible/ pun, wasn't it?

    Wyldfire slowly lowers her arms as her flames die off. Thankfully without setting the whole town on fire. One reason she moved to the square, where there was more space to avoid buildings.

    Looking around, Wyldfire notices a bug still alive, thrashing on the ground nearby, its wings singed. She walks over, raises her shoe, then brings it down onto the bug with a crunch. It quickly explodes into pixels of light. Wyldfire smirks, "That's what you get for messing with my home kingdom."

    Wyldfire makes her way towards the water's edge, doing a check for bug stragglers along the way. Hopefully none survived, or there might be more innocent peko lives taken in the future. And Adventurer limbs, sure. Speaking of, Wyldfire notices Shiruba having some trouble standing. Wyldfire waves to her, "Hey! You look like you could use a hand!" Wrong limb, Wyld!

    Still, the Salamander walks over to Shiruba, reaching out with a hand that starts to glow with light. Don't worry, it's not the glow of fire, "Through light, suffering ends." A pretty average Ol Repth heal to help with the whole missing limbs thing. Though it may take a few applications.

    Rizadoman watches the orb piercer die as he steps back for a moment. Taking a deep breath he sits back and just begins to focus on his breathing for a moment, it was interesting how adrenalin breaks the strange effects but he can already hear the nagging again bugging him. Reaching down he does find one of the spines of the creature and before his head fully clouds he quickly examines it. "Hmm not him, not this time." Looking up into the sky he looks at the group that seems to have things covered and begins to walk off across the desert. He needed to do research , he must find the lores of this land, then he must go see a doctor. Finally it would be back to the nest in Shibuya to write it all down.

Shiruba looks over and, despite being hurt and annoyed, still manages to crack a bit of a smile at was either a joke or an intentional miswording. Either way, it's a bit of needed levity. Something something laughter is the best medicine.

But the healing magic is a much welcome addition to it.

She gives a nod in appreciation as Wyldfire walks over and start applying some of that regenerative Light energy. "Thank you, it's much appreciated."

As soon as the normal Chimlinks are back up she's on getting Silver Sword members that are still in reasonable shape to help track down any bugs that somehow survived the final onslaught. Taking NO CHANCES with those fucking things. They were arguably worse than spiders, fleas and mosquitoes all rolled into one.

Kaydon's final strike, added by the Emperor himself, finally destroys the creature. Kaydon collapses to the ground, driving his blade into the ground to hold himself up.

Once the clouds lift, he pushes back to his feet and looks around, taking a quick inventory of who is injured. He makes his way over to Shiruba to offer her a shoulder to lean on

Eliza leans on her crook. One arm was gone for now, but Sunny was safe. "Thanks for the help," she says to Mizufa, who had defended her during her song. She and the other Salamander had come to protect her and her Peko, even though she was a total stranger to them. She knew she hadn't misplaced her belief in the Landers. The battle had been scary, but with everyone working together, the day had been saved. Now it was time to seek out some healing. She'd want to write all about this in her journal, and she couldn't write quite so well with only her off hand.